Overview
The Sylvanus Fansher papers, 1805-1846 (inclusive), consist of correspondence, manuscripts, research materials, and patient records related to Sylvanus Fansher's (1770-1846) work on smallpox vaccination, as well as personal correspondence with his family.
Dates
- Creation: 1805-1846 (inclusive).
Creator
- Fansher, Sylvanus, 1770-1846 (Person)
Language of Materials
Papers are in English.
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research. Access requires advance notice. Contact Public Services for further information.
Conditions Governing Use
Public Domain.
Extent
0.14 cubic feet (1 half legal size document box)The Sylvanus Fansher papers, 1805-1846 (inclusive), undated, consist of correspondence, manuscripts, research materials, and patient records related to Sylvanus Fansher's (1770-1846) work on smallpox vaccination, as well as personal correspondence with his family.
The correspondence includes Fansher's memorial to Congress, and his letter to President Martin van Buren, advocating for the establishment of a national smallpox vaccination program. There is also a letter from New York physician Moses Younglove (1752-1829) to Fansher on his own experience inoculating patients.
Fansher's manuscripts on smallpox and cowpox focus on the history of the diseases and progress made with inoculation and vaccination. The research materials contain details on individual patients Fansher vaccinated, as well as a logbook of smallpox vaccinations with information on the subject name, age, and how the vaccine was introduced.
Papers are entirely in English.
Biographical Note
Sylvanus Fansher (1770-1846) was a physician practicing in Connecticut and Rhode Island. He conducted research on smallpox and provided public vaccinations, and was a proponent of establishing a national smallpox vaccine program.
Fansher wrote several broadsides on smallpox, including Progress of Vaccination in America (1816) and Rules to be Attended to During Vaccination (1817). He also authored A Concise Treatise on Electricity (1830).
Arrangement
The collection is arranged chronologically.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Accession number 2008-048.
Processing Information
Processed by Brooke McManus, 2016 January.
Processing staff in the Center for the History of Medicine analyzed, arranged, and described the papers, and created a finding aid to improve access. Folder titles were devised by the archivist unless otherwise noted.
Genre / Form
Geographic
Occupation
Topical
- History of Medicine.
- Medical care -- New York -- History -- 19th century.
- Medical Records.
- Medicine -- 19th century.
- Medicine -- New York -- History -- 19th century.
- Physicians' writings.
- Smallpox -- Prevention.
- Smallpox -- Vaccination -- History.
- Smallpox -- history.
- Smallpox -- prevention & control.
Subject
- Fansher, Sylvanus, 1770-1846 (Person)
- Waterhouse, Benjamin, 1754-1846 (Person)
Creator
- Fansher, Sylvanus, 1770-1846 (Person)
- Title
- Fansher, Sylvanus, 1770-1846. Papers, 1805-1846 (inclusive): Finding Aid.
- Author
- Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine. Center for the History of Medicine.
- Language of description
- und
- Sponsor
- Preservation and description was supported by the Arcadia-funded Colonial North American Project at Harvard University.
- EAD ID
- med00226
Repository Details
Part of the Center for the History of Medicine (Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine) Repository
The Center for the History of Medicine in the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine is one of the world's leading resources for the study of the history of health and medicine. Our mission is to enable the history of medicine and public health to inform healthcare, the health sciences, and the societies in which they are embedded.